The present invention relates to the nano-duplication of the surface of an object, and more particularly, to a method of duplicating the nano-pattern of the surface of an object, by duplicating the fine and beautiful surface of an object, which is to be duplicated, using nano-imprinting and electroforming, thus realizing an original texture.
Generally, the skins or surfaces of objects naturally present in the natural world, such as plants, insects, leather, minerals, trees, fiber, and fabric, have very beautiful and soft structures and textures and exhibit natural colors, and thus research and development into the application thereof to decorate the outer appearances of mass-produced industrial products is ongoing. In particular, because mobile communication portable terminals, PDAs, or notebook computers, which are expensive and are manufactured to be luxurious, should always be carried, the surface thereof is required to have low abrasion and be easy to maintain, and further, because they are shown to other persons, the outer appearance thereof is required to have a soft and luxurious texture or feel.
It is typical for metal material to be used to decrease the abrasion of a surface and for natural material to be used to impart a soft feel. Therefore, in order to develop an outer appearance or surface imparting a soft feel using metal material having low abrasion, lots of time and money are invested. Meanwhile, duplication methods in plastic are being developed.
The case where an object having a predetermined pattern to be duplicated is soft enables complicated and fine surface duplication but makes it difficult to manufacture a mold for use in such duplication. Further, although an etching process including photolithography and chemical etching may be applied to produce complicated and fine patterns, it is unsuitable for mass production. In the case of plastic dolls, wire telephones, automobiles or the like, a molding technique is applied at high pressure using a press so that the same shape or outer appearance is mass-duplicated, whereas, in the case of the skin of insects, plants, processed leather, minerals, fiber, and fabric, repeated duplication of a fine surface texture on the nanometer scale cannot be realized by the magnitude of the pressure of the press, and thus, desired colors and patterns must be realized through additional surface treatment.
However, such additional surface treatment is also problematic in that it is difficult to realize a good texture and structure, as in the skin of the insects, plants, processed leather, minerals, fiber, and fabric.